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4.12 AVERAGE
4.12 AVERAGE
In theory, I should absolutely love this book: parallel narratives, settings in modern times and in WWII, conspiracy/intrigue, numerous characters and distractions, maximalist prose. Unfortunately, Neal Stephenson's CRYPTONOMICON doesn't quite live up to its own ambitions. I found myself constantly wondering where the editor was during all of this, and this comes from a lover of both INFINITE JEST and GRAVITY'S RAINBOW. Instead of INFINITE JEST's insights into the human condition, Stephenson loads up the text with pointless meanderings. Instead of GRAVITY'S RAINBOW's morbid fascination with technology, Stephenson loads up the text with some interesting cryptology.
CRYPTONOMICON isn't without it's fun though; I feel like I learned something about codebreaking, and Stephenson's prose bursts along at a quick clip, even if nothing consequential happens for long stretches of time. I loved the technical detail given throughout the book, but in the end, its over-complicated plot never made itself compelling enough to carry the 900+ page weight.
CRYPTONOMICON isn't without it's fun though; I feel like I learned something about codebreaking, and Stephenson's prose bursts along at a quick clip, even if nothing consequential happens for long stretches of time. I loved the technical detail given throughout the book, but in the end, its over-complicated plot never made itself compelling enough to carry the 900+ page weight.
Yeh a good light entertainment type book with elements of depth around its subject matter. Essentially a good escapist page Turner.
Bloated and pretentious with just enough moments with a little zip to keep me listening until the end. The only thing that made this one tolerable was the 'skip ahead 30 seconds' button.
I can count on one hand the number of books I’ve bailed on halfway through, and this was one of them. I forced myself to get to the page number I always do because most books pick up by then, but I couldn’t even bring myself to pick it back up. The amount of disgustingly detailed sexist bullshit in just the first few chapters was absolutely unreal. If you care about women at all you probably won’t be able to stand this book either so don’t bother.
Bob forced me to read this. I ended up quite enjoying it. All the male characters were at once competent and charmingly inept. There were decent amounts of love, sex, technology, suspense, mystery, and humor to make this one difficult book to categorize. I definitely found the pages of "code stuff" and other lengthy descriptions tiresome and masturbatory. The ending also felt a little flat. However, the many plots and characters still make me bestow four stars.
Also, Bobby Shaftoe is a firm tie (with Gilbert Blythe) for the #3 spot on my list of literary crushes.
Also, Bobby Shaftoe is a firm tie (with Gilbert Blythe) for the #3 spot on my list of literary crushes.
(Trying to avoid spoilers here but beware.)
There were huge sections of the books I enjoyed thoroughly. At one point he described a children’s playground so perfectly I laughed out loud and showed two people in my house the passage.
For other chunks of the book, I wanted to throw it across the room. Why did we need to know so much about the system they used to send one 10-letter note in the jail and never again? Why did he have to spend such huge amounts of time explaining the math system used to divvy up mom’s property?! If this were Dickens and he was being paid by the word, I’d get it, but some of it was literally just too much.
The storylines and how they came together was at least interesting, and I was a fan of all the very different characters, but at the moment I’m not sure if it was with slogging through all the extra crap that didn’t belong in this book. Perhaps splitting it into a few would have made sense… and there’s no way I see how this makes the opening book in a series. What would be next - ciphers that explain how to get to the moon?!
There were huge sections of the books I enjoyed thoroughly. At one point he described a children’s playground so perfectly I laughed out loud and showed two people in my house the passage.
For other chunks of the book, I wanted to throw it across the room. Why did we need to know so much about the system they used to send one 10-letter note in the jail and never again? Why did he have to spend such huge amounts of time explaining the math system used to divvy up mom’s property?! If this were Dickens and he was being paid by the word, I’d get it, but some of it was literally just too much.
The storylines and how they came together was at least interesting, and I was a fan of all the very different characters, but at the moment I’m not sure if it was with slogging through all the extra crap that didn’t belong in this book. Perhaps splitting it into a few would have made sense… and there’s no way I see how this makes the opening book in a series. What would be next - ciphers that explain how to get to the moon?!
What an uneven, interesting book. I loved the cryptography aspects, I especially loved when the (many, many) random tangents came full circle and helped illustrate some complex cryptography ideas; given the current state of cryptography and cryptocurrencies I couldn't help but find all of this completely fascinating! The way Stephenson effortlessly predicts so much of the current crypto climate is amazing. Unfortuely
The cryptography and plot lines are interesting. However, the sexism and racism are awful.
I listened to the audiobook.
I listened to the audiobook.
I really liked the idea of squad 2702. The idea that there had to be a squad set up to smooth out the bell curve of random events in WW2, both spectacularly successful and spectacularly unsuccessful, to disguise the fact that we'd broken their code is probably one of the cooler premises I've ever heard of. I kind of wish he had run with that instead of where the story actually winds up going, but alas.
Stephenson is still a master of writing fiction full of great ideas, even if the narratives themselves are somewhat average. On the down side, his female characters are awful and I could see how less nerdy types might be irritated by his constant asides and narrative distractions.
Stephenson is still a master of writing fiction full of great ideas, even if the narratives themselves are somewhat average. On the down side, his female characters are awful and I could see how less nerdy types might be irritated by his constant asides and narrative distractions.
I'm obviously not geeky enough to love this book. The math and the long descriptions of what computers and computer programs can do gave me a headache and it seemed to me like all those things took precedence over the plot and the story itself. And while it was a fine story, I just couldn't enjoy it because of those long technical and mathematical lectures. So, 2½ stars, but only because the characters were engaging and I had to see where they all ended up.